Tom Peters: Loud looks out for her own agenda, not what's best for Ashland

To The Daily Sun,

In response to the Amanda Loud for Ashland Trustee letter: Well, she sure does speak very highly of herself as she tells you she works for “transparency.”

Once appointed to the Scribner Board and before her very first meeting, she made her way through the community, telling anyone who would listen, that the Scribner Board is terrible and the Scribner Trust Fund will be broke within months. She even went behind the backs of her fellow board members and tried to convince the AG’s office the same. This apparently is her idea of “transparency.”

Unfortunately for her, her dire prediction failed to come true. (See page 65 of the Ashland Town Report) The Scribner Fund has no outstanding bills from providing a heated and maintained building and grounds care for the town library. It had $96,820.17 in the trust when she made her dire prediction. One year later, at the close of this year, we had $108,609.62. That fact will not stop her from continuing to tell her story. It seems she hopes the fund will fail just to prove she was right. Rest assured, your town library will always have a home at the Scribner Building.

In her letter she told you she was the only trustee to attend a Selectboard meeting. What she didn’t tell you is, behind the backs of the Scribner trustees, she conspired to create an unnecessary meeting for the Scribner trustees to attend; her kind of transparency.

The town voted, long ago, to NOT have the selectmen involved in the Scribner Trust. Instead to have Scribner trustees manage ALL things Scribner.

She also told you that “she” would work to enforce the Attorney General’s recommendation that the trustees discontinue their stipend from the Scribner trust. Sadly this is an outright lie. Here is what Tom Donovan from the AG’s said: “I advise the trustees to consider the reasonableness of their fees each year, considering the complexity of the work, the time involved, and the value of the trust assets.”

This is what the trustees do every year, currently the stipend for managing the trust fund, the maintenance of the building and grounds, all the bills that go with heating, fire prevention, monitoring, and bookkeeping etc. is $250 per year for each trustee.

She told you that in her effort to be transparent she puts the trustee meetings on the internet. What she fails to tell you is, not until she has an opportunity to edit out anything she does not want you to hear. She also fails to tell you she removes minutes from the town office, alters them, then returns them. By the way, she is not the recording secretary.

By all means, “Let the sun shine in”

Rick Pare’ is honorable, trustworthy, has a ton of common sense and will care for all trust funds for good returns and safety just as he has for the last 20 years.

Please vote Rick Pare’ for town trustee.

Tom Peters

Ashland Town Trustee